Household appliances with a metallic treatment compartment for the treatment of items requiring treatment, such as dishwashers, washing machines and ovens, are nowadays obtainable in many forms via retail outlets.
In a typical structure, as currently also realized in the industrial series manufacture of household dishwashers produced by the applicant, the near-cuboid metallic treatment compartment is anchored onto a base bearer (“floor assembly”) serving as a plinth for the setting-up of the household appliance. Four support columns are customarily provided for anchoring of the treatment compartment onto the base bearer, which project downwards into the corner areas of the treatment compartment and are fixed in the base bearer. Here, for example, two supports arranged in the frontal area of the household appliance are embodied as so-called hinge plates, which among other things serve to provide the swivel mounting of a compartment door capable of being swung down and forwards for opening and closing of the treatment compartment. The two hinge plates are for example connected to the treatment compartment by means of welding.
In addition to its functions as a plinth for setting-up of the household appliance and anchoring of the treatment compartment, the base bearer also serves to accommodate various appliance components, such as a central electrical control device (“power module”), which is connected to the electrical components of the household appliance via a multiplicity of electrical cables. Connection of the control device to the household electricity supply generally takes place via a power cable routed through the rear of the household appliance.
As in household appliances with front operation multiple electrical components are generally arranged in the frontal area of the appliance, the electrical cables leading into the frontal area of the appliance are typically combined into a cable harness, which is routed within a cable duct arranged in the frontal area of the appliance on a plinth plate fixed on the base bearer.
In order to meet electrical safety requirements, electrical household appliances require grounding, which is effected by connecting the electrically conductive (metallic) components of the household appliance to the ground connection of the household electricity supply. This applies in particular to the treatment compartments generally manufactured from a metallic material.
In the typical structure of a household appliance with treatment compartment as described above, the treatment compartment has hitherto been grounded via the support columns arranged in the frontal area, which serve to anchor it in the base bearer. For this purpose the ground connection of the household electricity supply is connected to a ground cable, which is routed together with the cable harness and after exit from the cable duct is fixed to one of the two support columns in the frontal area (hinge plates) by means of a so-called pigtail.
With reference to the FIGS. 1 to 3, this is now illustrated in greater detail. FIG. 1 shows, in a schematically three-dimensional representation, the arrangement of an approximately rectangular shaped cable duct 101 on a plinth plate 102 which is only partially shown, and which is mounted on a base bearer, which is not shown, in the frontal area of a household appliance. The cable duct 101 is fixed on the plinth plate 102 using angle brackets 103, for example by means of welding. A cable harness 104 is routed through the cable duct 101, which contains a multiplicity of electrical cables for power supply purposes and for controlling electrical components of the appliance in the frontal area.
FIG. 1 shows, relative to the front of a household appliance, a left-hand front section of the plinth plate 102. The cable harness 104a entering through a rear opening 105 of the cable duct 101 leads from a central control device for power supply and the control of electrical components of the household appliance, which is accommodated in the base bearer and is or can be electrically connected to a household power supply. The cable harness 104b emerging from a frontal opening 106 of the cable duct 101 is divided into individual cables and supplies the electrical components of the household appliance located in the frontal area. In the case of a household dishwasher this involves, for example, the operating console for manual user inputs and the displaying of program steps arranged in the frontal area, the so-called dosage unit, via which detergent can be fed into the dishwasher under program control, and a compartment lock, which for example only permits the execution of a wash program if it is locked, and can interrupt a currently running program step upon opening of the compartment door.
FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 show three-dimensional representations of the arrangement of the cable duct 101 mounted on the plinth plate 102 in the household appliance. The plinth plate 102 is mounted on a base bearer, which is not shown in greater detail, as a plinth for setting-up of the household appliance. A metallic treatment compartment 108, the left-hand lower corner of which is shown in sectional form, is anchored in the base bearer via a welded-on metallic hinge bearer 107 by means of a downward projecting carrier leg 111 of the hinge bearer 107. Such a hinge bearer 107 is provided in the frontal area on both sides of the treatment compartment 108.
As is further evident from FIGS. 2 and 3, a ground cable 109 which is or can be connected to the ground connection of the household electricity supply is routed in the cable harness 104, which after emerging from the frontal opening 106 of the cable duct 101 is fixed on the hinge bearer via an eyelet 110 formed at the end as a so-called pigtail. To this end, the eyelet is fixed to the hinge plate 107 by means of a fixing screw 114 guided through this, which is screwed into a threaded hole 112 on a fixing tab 113 of the hinge bearer formed through the angle of bend, in order in this way to connect, electroconductively, the ground cable 109 to the hinge plate 107 and thus to the treatment compartment 108.
Upon assembly of the household appliance, the cable duct 101 is initially mounted on the plinth plate 102, which is then subsequently fixed on the base bearer with the preassembled cable duct 101.
One disadvantage in the case of conventional grounding of the treatment compartment 108 is in particular the fact that a relatively long ground cable 109 for connection of the hinge plate 107 and a separate fixing screw 114 for fixing of the ground cable 109 to the hinge plate 107 are required. Additionally, separate assembly of the pigtail by a fitter is necessary, so that in industrial series production manufacturing costs are hereby increased to a not-inconsiderable extent as a result of the material, storage and personnel costs thereby incurred.
There is accordingly a need for a generic household appliance, which avoids the cited disadvantage and in industrial series production enables a grounding of the treatment compartment which is both technically simple to effect and is at the same time cost-effective.